credit card novice- have I understood everything right? 11 January 2016 at 10:18AM in Stoozing: free cash from credit cards 2 replies 1.1K views

Melbryce11

I'm considering getting a credit card but want to be absolutely sure I have understood how they work before proceeding as do not want to get stung.

My bank has cleared me for one so eligibility is fine.

They will assess the amount of credit I can get.

Now here's where I get confused. It's 0% interest for 12 months so you need to have the outstanding paid off within that time- but do you get charged interest if you just pay the minimum payment or is it 0% interest if you pay off a certain amount every month? This is where I'm confused.

For example I'm thinking of booking a holiday and (if I decided to go ahead with the credit card) would I need to pay everything off from that spend the next month to not pay interest of do you just pay a certain amount?

Help please?

Thanks in advance

zx81

With a 0% promo, as you long as you pay at least the minimum each month, you will pay no interest.

I assume this is 0% on purchases, not a BT (as you have no other card)? There's other issues to be aware of on BT cards.

Consumerist

Melbryce11 wrote: »

. .For example I'm thinking of booking a holiday and (if I decided to go ahead with the credit card) would I need to pay everything off from that spend the next month to not pay interest of do you just pay a certain amount? . . .

Just to clarify, you only need to pay the minimum payment, as specified on your monthly statement, each month during the 0%-promo period.

Once the promo has ended, however, you will need to pay off the full balance, on time, each month to avoid paying interest (As described in your example).